Netflix’s true crime catalog has seen its fair share of shocking stories, but few have rocked audiences—and the internet—quite like the saga of Jodi Hildebrandt and Ruby Franke. With the December 30, 2025 release of Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story, viewers are once again confronted with the dark underbelly of online parenting advice, religious extremism, and the devastating consequences of unchecked authority. The documentary, directed by Skye Borgman—known for Abducted in Plain Sight and Girl in the Picture—dives deep into how a trusted counselor and a YouTube star became partners in a notorious child abuse case that stunned both Utah and the wider world.
Jodi Hildebrandt, an American counselor and YouTube personality, once enjoyed a reputation as a relationship and job coach. She graduated from Brigham Young University in 1996 and went on to earn a Master of Arts in educational psychology from the University of Utah in 2003. By 2007, she had founded ConneXions, a life-coaching company in Orem, Utah, which quickly became a magnet for those seeking guidance—especially within the Mormon church community.
It was through this church network that Hildebrandt crossed paths with Ruby Franke, a mother of six who had built a massive following on her 8 Passengers YouTube channel. Launched in 2015, the channel amassed more than two million subscribers, with Franke sharing her strict parenting philosophy and daily family life. Hildebrandt soon became a fixture in Franke’s world, offering advice and eventually collaborating on content. According to Tudum, their friendship and professional partnership seemed inevitable given their shared values and community ties.
But beneath the surface, a far more troubling dynamic was developing. By May 2023, Franke and her younger children had moved into Hildebrandt’s home. At the time, Franke was separated from her husband, Kevin Franke, and working on her marriage. The two women, bound by a belief in harsh discipline and religious rectitude, began implementing extreme measures to “fix” what they saw as the children’s failings.
The horrifying reality came to light on August 30, 2023, when Franke’s 12-year-old son escaped from Hildebrandt’s Washington County home. Emaciated, hungry, with open wounds and duct tape wrapped around his extremities, the boy sought help from a neighbor. Emergency responders soon found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in similarly dire conditions—malnourished, neglected, and in need of urgent medical care. The children were immediately hospitalized, and all four of Franke’s younger children were placed in state custody, as reported by the Santa-Clara Ivins Public Safety Department and covered in detail by People and Today.
The abuse, investigators revealed, was systematic and severe. The children were denied nourishment, beds, and entertainment. They endured cruel physical punishments: hours spent squatting against a wall, forced runs on dirt roads under the sun without food or water, and even being made to sleep outdoors. One child was forced to jump into a cactus repeatedly, while another was treated for wounds with cayenne pepper and honey—a makeshift and painful remedy. According to the BBC, both Hildebrandt and Franke admitted in their plea agreement to telling the children they were “possessed” and needed to be punished, a chilling insight into the religious extremism that fueled their actions.
Skye Borgman, the documentary’s director, told Tudum, “She uses threats and all these cult-y techniques, and she isolates them. It really is just the methodology that she incorporates that really works to separate these people from anything that is positive in their lives.” Borgman’s film stands out for its exclusive interviews with members of the Franke family, who share their harrowing experiences in depth for the first time.
The legal consequences for Hildebrandt and Franke were swift and severe. Both women were arrested on August 30, 2023, and charged with aggravated child abuse. Hildebrandt faced six counts but ultimately pleaded guilty to four counts. On February 20, 2024, Judge John J. Walton sentenced her to four consecutive prison terms of one to 15 years each—a minimum of four years and a maximum of 30 years under Utah law. Ruby Franke received an identical sentence. The judge also ordered $100,000 from the sale of Hildebrandt’s Ivins, Utah home to be set aside as restitution for the children.
Currently, Hildebrandt, now 55, is incarcerated at the Utah State Correctional Facility in the women’s general population Dell building, alongside Franke. Their first parole hearings are scheduled for December 2026. The exact length of their incarceration will ultimately be determined by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. Prosecutor Eric Clarke, quoted by CBS News, expressed hope that Hildebrandt would serve more than the minimum sentence, stating, “I hope that Jodi serves more time than [the minimum] and I hope that she isn’t out of prison until everybody is completely confident that she’s no longer a risk. And to get there, she’s going to have to acknowledge that she has done wrong and that you can’t use religion as a means to justify your crazy behavior.”
In the aftermath of the case, Hildebrandt’s professional life has unraveled. The Utah Department of Commerce’s Division of Professional Licensing permanently revoked her clinical mental health counseling license on May 10, 2024. YouTube also banned both Hildebrandt and Franke from the platform, erasing their once-popular channels and cutting off their access to an audience that had, for years, trusted their advice.
As part of her plea deal, Hildebrandt agreed to undergo a mental health evaluation and cognitive behavioral therapy ahead of her parole hearing. In a further twist, according to Today, Hildebrandt has continued to claim, in recorded telephone conversations, that she is the victim and the children are the perpetrators—a stance that’s expected to weigh heavily in the parole board’s decision-making process.
The release of Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story has reignited public debate about the dangers of unchecked online influence, the intersection of faith and fanaticism, and the vulnerabilities of children in the spotlight. The documentary, now streaming on Netflix with a runtime of 1 hour and 40 minutes, stands as both a cautionary tale and a call for vigilance in an era where digital personas can mask disturbing realities.
With the parole hearings still ahead and the wounds of the Franke family far from healed, the story of Jodi Hildebrandt remains a stark reminder: behind the curated images and persuasive rhetoric of social media, true evil can sometimes lurk in plain sight.
